Cinema Catala Hollywood Movie Review

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Bollywood media firm Reliance Big Entertainment, which is run by Anil Ambani – the sixth richest man in the world, has announced that it will be making 10 Hollywood movies for one billion dollars. In order to do this, Reliance has signed deals with the production teams of the Hollywood stars Nicolas Cage, Jim Carrey, George Clooney, Tom Hanks and Brad Pitt.

However, it is unlikely these films will be traditional Bollywood titles. Rajesh Sawhney, who is the president of Reliance, said: “We want to make Hollywood movies that have a global audience. We are not inserting Bollywood into Hollywood just yet.” He also added that his team would be choosing films for their content, rather than their genre. He said: “I think Indian movies get stereotyped as all singing and dancing in the same way as Hollywood gets stereotyped for sex and violence. We are looking for good content regardless of genre.” Ultimately, Mr Sawnhey said that the company are hoping to make some huge films that will make them money. He said: “We are looking to make big-budget, live-action movies in Hollywood that make money for us.”

Hollywood has been looking for funding from Indian film producers for a while, as the American economy is struggling. In recent years, Disney, News Corporation and Sony have all made big-money deals with Bollywood companies, although none of the deals were as big as the Reliance one.

Mr Sawhney said that the deal signified the beginning of a long relationship between Bollywood and Hollywood. He said: “The aim is to look at 30 film scripts under this deal over the next two years, out of which 10 will go to screen. This is just the beginning of our relationship with Hollywood.”

Many film experts see this deal as a real marriage of two cultures. Komal Nahta, editor of Mumbai trade paper the Film Street Journal, labelled the deal as a “major” one. He said: “Reliance is making a major move in putting Hollywood and Bollywood together. The key will be whether you can make Indian movies that sell abroad and at the same time sell foreign stars in India.”

Many people believe that deals like this could teach Bollywood much about filmmaking. At present, the Indian film industry releases around 1,000 movies a year, but only makes about £1 billion annually. In comparison, Hollywood produces half this number, but has 10 times the sales. The reason that is often given for Bollywood’s relative lack of commercial success is that traditional Bollywood studios are generally family-run affairs that rely on star talent to carry a film, rather than good scripts.

Here’s a primer for how to endure Old Dogs if an unfortunate series of circumstances should place you where seeing it is unavoidable. Arrive late and leave early. In between, visit the concession stand as frequently as possible and stand in the longest lines. Drink a gallon of water beforehand so multiple visits to the restroom are mandatory. Hopefully, this will limit your exposure to a level where Old Dogs loses its toxicity and is merely uncomfortable, although I’m not sure that’s possible. More tests are needed but there are some experiences no one should be subjected to even in the name of science. It may be that forced viewing of this film has been outlawed by the Geneva Convention.

Much has been made about how family films like Where the Wild Things Are and A Christmas Carol are too mature for younger children. The inverse is true of Old Dogs, which is too infantile for anyone who can speak in full sentences. As for the rest of the potential audience… They’ll probably appreciate it, but many of them enjoy eating paste, so that establishes a baseline level of taste. To be frank, eating paste would probably be less likely to induce vomiting that sitting through the entirety of this motion picture abomination.

Old Dogs makes Wild Hogs, the predecessor of its director, Walt Becker, appear Oscar worthy. What’s wrong with this movie? A better question might be: What’s right? Every attempt at comedy is not only obvious but delivered in such a forced manner that any hope of generating laughter dies before the joke has been told. Old Dogs also attempts to include its share of dramatic moments; these are about as well conceived as Rob Schneider doing Shakespeare. Side effects of watching Old Dogs’ mawkish melodrama range from eyeball rolling to uncontrolled retching.

A pall hangs over Old Dogs. It features the last screen appearance of Bernie Mac, whose death resulted in the movie’s opening being delayed by about six months. It’s also the last film John Travolta made before the death of his son, Jett. In fact, Jett is the only member of the Travolta clan not to have a role in this film. Travolta’s wife, Kelly Preston, plays the lead female and his daughter, Ella Bleu, is one of the kids.

The two “old dogs” of the title are best buddies Charlie (Travolta) and Dan (Robin Williams), who have been in business together for 30 years. Now, on the eve of signing a huge contract with a Japanese firm, Dan discovers that a 24-hour fling seven years ago with Vicki (Kelly Preston) resulted in the birth of fraternal twins Zach (Conner Rayburn) and Emily (Ella Bleu Travolta). With Emily scheduled to spend two weeks in jail on a civil disobedience charge, she needs someone to care for the children. That’s where Dan and Charlie come in. This leads to a series of misadventures involving camping out, bear poop, dog urine, human flatulence, golf, and a visit to the zoo. Amazingly, the filmmakers manage to take situations that should at least have a minimal level of comedic potential and reduce them to where laughter by anyone over the age of four could be construed as a sign of a psychological maladjustment.

Perhaps the saddest thing about this movie is reflecting upon how far Robin Williams has fallen as a comedian. Once one of the funniest men in Hollywood, Williams has been reduced to this. (To be fair, he has shown strong dramatic chops – his performance in the dark comedy World’s Greatest Dad is a testimony to that.) It’s easy to see the attraction for Travolta since the involvement of his wife and daughter allowed him to spend more time with the family. He should have just submitted a few home movies instead and spared us the agony of Old Dogs. Supporting players include Seth Green as a junior member of Charlie and Dan’s firm, Lori Laughlin as a love interest for Charlie, and Matt Dillon as a camp director.

If there’s anything significant about Old Dogs, it’s that it illustrates how diminished Thanksgiving weekend has become for movie releases. Once, this was deemed the fourth biggest time of the year for opening films (after Memorial Day, Christmas, and July 4). Now, it’s a dumping ground. With good reason, Disney has little faith in this movie’s performance – they’re releasing it against their own A Christmas Carol, and it will soon be joined by The Princess and the Frog. Perhaps like old soldiers, Old Dogs will fade away – although not matter how quickly it does that, it won’t be fast enough.